Jordanian winery to experiment with seawater ageing

In a joint venture with Sea Aged Wine of Spain, Jordan River Wines has announced that it will age some of its wine in temperature-controlled tanks filled with seawater in Spain.

Jordan River Wines

The Jordan-based winery is due to send bottles of its Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon to Spain to undergo the process which Sea Aged Wine refers to as ‘conduction ageing’.

Founder of Sea Aged Wine, Graham Smith, said: “This is like turning back the clock to a time when perhaps our predecessors knew more about ageing and storing wine than we do today. We’ve found that the tanks are proven to change the taste of wine following the tastings that we have conducted”.

According to Sea Aged Wine, during the ‘conduction-ageing process’ bottles of wine are placed in specially designed tanks filled with seawater for any time from one month to up to a year.

The tanks have settings to control the temperature of the water and, according to the company, “being on land, the tanks do not have a problem with pressure on the corks or screw top seals thus ensuring that there is no seepage or contamination of the wine”. Each bottle is sealed in a vacuum packed bag and put into a tank capable of holding 1,000 bottles at a time.

Speaking to the drinks business, a representative from Jordan River Wines said that their wines will spend between 1 and 6 months in the tanks.

On the subject of what they hope to achieve in their finished wines, JR Wines said: “Seawater ageing changes the wine’s aromas and the taste. We’re currently testing sea ageing and looking at the changes that happen to the wines depending on the variety and how long they spend in the tank. Additional aromas and tastes and even colour changes are a major result of sea ageing”.

Upon release, the price per bottle, excluding duty, customs and taxes will be $26.

Eagle Distilleries Co, the company which owns JR Wines, was founded in 1953. In 1975, the winery and cellar was established and today the company produces arak, brandy, gin, vodka, whisky, liqueur, rum and wine.

5 Responses to “Jordanian winery to experiment with seawater ageing”

This is indeed fantastic for all concerned.
I have tasted sea aged wine. It really is uniquely different.
Being on land and in tanks..That will be much more
controlled and better for the environment.
Well done all concerned.

It appears that the only thing the wine will experience is a very stable temperature for the time it spends floating in the water. No more, or less stable than if it were in fresh water, or no water in a controlled environment.
So, any actual change in the wine would have to be by the magic of spending a few extra dollars on the bottle, which has shown to be a good predictor in many psychological tests over the years.
And BTW, I have had some “ocean aged” wine, in actual contact with the water, including sealife growth on the bottle. No discernible difference to my palate with a control bottle of the same wine, cellar stored on land.

I understand how people are sceptical about this. However Conduction which is used in seawater ageing is totally different from convection(air) which is used in cellar ageing.
In a cellar the air temperature at one part of a bottle can be completely different to the other part of the bottle.

This stops or slows any fermentation process which is why cellar ageing is a long time and the process of conduction is rapid. As when the temperature of seawater around
a bottle or object is at the same temperature so are the contents of the bottle. This would then allow rapid fermentation/ageing of the contents.

It may also be noted that I would think sea water is probably used as it is more conductive that just water. And that the temperatures required would mean the tanks need
some device for keep the water at a set temperature. I found this to be the case when I went on the website http://www.seagedwine.com and found pictures of the tanks.

Also I noticed that the company have aged by this conduction process. Wine from Campo Viejo. One of the worlds or certainly Europes best and largest wine producers.
Which happen to be part of the Pernod Ricard group.

A quick google search and you can find that in the sea many large companies are now experimenting with this and the BBC from the UK have aired a program where
Joanna Lumley and Jenifer Saunders were at a famous French producer drinking sea aged wine. Both commended the difference and how good it was. And were surprised
at the difference. I would say the BBC are impartial and would not air such a program if it were not correct.

Hello James.
You can purchase online https://www.seaagedwine.com/online-store
Francesca Ferrer
Sea Aged Wine
Xabia
Spain
NB At the moment we only have Campo Viejo wines.
River Jordan wine will be another few months. (But worth waiting for)

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